Ambulance service to begin

After years of waiting, ambulances adorned with GERMANTOWN started running through the suburb Monday as the city transitions from a private contractor to providing the service in-house.

The city christened four new units last Sunday evening at Central Fire Station on Farmington just hours before they hit the streets for the first time to serve Germantown residents.

The move will end at least 20 years of efforts by some city leaders, particularly fire chiefs, to take over the service only to have financial considerations stop the plans.

“We tried to remove those fiscal (concerns),” Fire Chief John Selberg said.

In presenting the numbers, Selberg was able to show some personnel costs would not be as high because the positions already were on staff and only were being shifted to the ambulance service. The consideration that the city will have revenue projections at 65 percent of billing also was an incentive.

For years, Germantown studied, then abandoned the idea of getting into the ambulance business, eventually choosing to be part of the overall county contract with Rural/ Metro, paying a share based on the number of calls within the Germantown borders. This year, with the Rural/Metro contract expiring, and uncertainty about future levels of service, the discussion gained more momentum. In March, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen agreed to the service, making Germantown only the second suburb with its own am- bulances. Bartlett has run its own service since the mid-1970s.

Germantown will have two ambulances on duty and staffed, with two others as reserves that can be put in service with fire personnel if needed. The city will start with rental ambulances initially until it can purchase four new ones, probably next month.

“I think it’s a given that the most important service that a city provides to its citizens is safety and security,” Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy said. “Our moving to broaden that to include transport as a part of our emergency medical response is just a very logical step in providing the whole continuum of response.”

Selberg said the department, with 76 full-time personnel, is “excited” about the opportunity, training constantly and confident that it is the best for the suburb. at Municipal Park. Activities start at 5 p.m. and fireworks begin at 9:10 p.m. Before the Independence Day celebration, children can bring their fishing pole, tackle box and bait and take part in the city’s fishing rodeo (on

Municipal Park Lake.